By Richard Reeb| For the Victorville Daily Press
Democrats across America can hardly wait for the Biden administration to commence, impatient with the seeming delay of that glorious day caused by legal challenges to questionable balloting in battleground states brought by the campaign of President Donald Trump. Evidently, they look upon the office of the President elect as an actual one, not acknowledging the fact that Democrat Al Gore held up the transition for over a month back in 2000.
I say seeming above because only the Constitution, with its stipulation that the next administration begins on Jan. 20, 2021, can be blamed for standing in the way of four years of folly, increased taxes and spending, overregulation, indulgence of rioting, incessant propaganda and, worst of all, suppression of our constitutional rights.
We must remind ourselves that the Constitution is not just a kind of guide to political conduct; it is the supreme law of the land. That refers both to the governmental powers granted and denied, and the individual rights and liberties secured. Those impatient with the pace of political change look upon that foundational touchstone as in need of changing with the times or, equally vile, being refashioned (rather than upheld) by the U.S. Supreme Court.
Our nation has in this remarkable year of 2020 (to say the least) endured a pandemic and shutdown, massive rioting in our cities and a presidential campaign marked by shameless lying and censorship designed to push over the finish line the man who often displayed signs of severe dementia. What we have endured we will be subjected to still more.
Looking at all these shenanigans with a detached perspective is Samuel Alito, an associate justice of the Supreme Court, who actually issued an order to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to stay its vote counting until issues of constitutionality can be resolved. In a virtual speech to the Federalist Society, Alito expressed alarm over what he regards as the greatest general suppression of citizens liberties in our nations history.
As Paul Mirengoff at Powerline reported, Alitos message was that key American rights are in jeopardy. He noted, for example, that the coronavirus pandemic has resulted in previously unimaginable restrictions on individual liberty.
We have never before seen restrictions as severe, extensive and prolonged as those experienced for most of 2020, he said.
Alito was careful to emphasize, Miengoff continues, that he wasnt diminishing the severity of the viruss threat to public health, or even taking a position on whether the restrictions are good public policy. However, he argued that the restrictions on public gatherings and worship services highlighted trends that were already present before the virus struck, including a dominance of lawmaking by executive fiat rather than by legislators and the relegation of certain rights to second-class status.
Religious rights, for example. Alito homed in on the decision of Nevada to limit church attendance to 50 people, while reopening large casinos to 50% capacity. It pains me to say it, but in certain quarters religious liberty is fast becoming a disfavored right, he concluded.
Take a quick look at the Constitution, Alito urged. You will see the free exercise clause of the First Amendment, which protects religious liberty. You will not find a craps clause, or a blackjack clause, or a slot machine clause.
Alito made his remarks, mind you, as the encroachment on our liberties continues, and in the face of Biden advisor Sheldon Whitehouses threat to restructure the Supreme Court if it makes a pro-gun ruling in the current judicial session. Thats a polite term for court packing, which the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg opposed.
Add to this the frequent demands by leftist Democrats for a truth commission to squash the careers of anyone who served in the Trump administration, worked prominently in Trump campaigns or contributed substantially to them. After a finding of complicity in alleged evil, the object will be to demand that positions in the public or private sector be closed to these miscreants.
Actions follow words. For political purposes, but also out of misguided ideological conviction, the Democrats have hurled charges of racism, sexism, xenophobia, homophobia and even transphobia against the Trump administration and all those in support of it. Now comes the fun part, which consists in validating all those specious charges by our equivalent of the French Revolutions reign of terror that sent thousands to the guillotine. If such is not now available, just give the Left time and opportunity, and some device equally deadly will no doubt appear.
This is not paranoia. When disregard for the Constitution coincides with fanaticism, the result is predictable: Political assassination.
Richard Reeb taught political science, philosophy and journalism at Barstow College from 1970 to 2003. He is the author of Taking Journalism Seriously: Objectivity as a Partisan Cause (University Press of America, 1999). He can be contacted at rhreeb@verizon.net.
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Thinking It Through: Censorship is all the rage, man! - VVdailypress.com